digital footprint

What is Your Status?

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During job search coaching sessions with clients, we always talk about the importance of Linkedin as a critical piece of a balanced search strategy. What is vital to remember, though, is that merely “building” a compelling profile is only the first step when your goal is to create visibility and attract opportunities.

When I did a search using “CFO” today, I got 443,837 results. That … is a lot of Finance Chiefs! Clearly key words are important to your profile, but I would also suggest that using the status update bar is a gold nugget strategy most Chief Finance Officers do not fully utilize.

Look at this stat on the impact of posting a status update …

One status update can occupy up to 80% of the feed screen, pretty impressive real estate. With the right kind of LinkedIn status updates, you can make a huge difference in the amount of visibility and attention that you receive.

I recognize that my CFOs are busy people. Most are barely engaged on Linkedin and a big fear is that using any social media requires an inordinate amount of time and energy. My philosophy is that consistency and constancy really rule the day; meaning, be constantly consistent in utilizing the status update bar howeverthat fits into your schedule. If posting once a week is something to which you can commit, then be constantly consistent about your weekly posting.

In social media, “build it and they will come” just does not apply … because there are always new players coming to the table. By strategically using the status update function, you can separate yourself from the competition with updates that showcase your thought leadership and your branded positioning.

If you want to boost your visibility on Linkedin, give me a call. I would be delighted to help you!

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2018

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

Social Media Overreach

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If you’ve been following my articles and posts for any length of time, you know that I am an avid believer that Linkedin is a MUST for CFOs and Finance Executives. From a professional perspective, Linkedin is the best of what is available for building a robust and compelling digital footprint, sans your own website. And today, a digital footprint is a necessity for any Finance Leader who anticipates a job search at some future point.

As in any job search, maintaining control is imperative. In order to retain control of your Linkedin profile, I suggest becoming familiar with the privacy settings in your account.

To do that, log into “Settings & Privacy” through the dropdown box at the top left underneath your picture. Once you are there, take a look around. You might be very surprised at the default settings Linkedin has chosen for you.

For example, under the first section in the “Privacy” category, there is a sub-category called “Microsoft Word” which says this …

I don’t know about you, but after I invested sweat equity in creating a compelling profile that is unique to me, I am not at all interested in Microsoft Word “taking” my carefully crafted language and using it in their “Resume Assistant” feature.

Which brings me to a second point. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, don’t use a resume template program that gives you canned phrases to fill in the blanks. You need to own your message and it needs to convey your marketable value. Otherwise, you run the risk of being perceived as a commodity -or- inauthentic when your verbal message doesn’t align with your written message.

A resume and Linkedin profile are not superficial strategies, or at least they shouldn’t be. They are, and should be, the culmination of the hard work to uncover and hone your value messaging to your target audience. And a resume template program should not be permitted to “take” your carefully crafted messaging … at least in my humble opinion.

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2018

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

The Dog Ate My Homework

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With that cliché title, I am no doubt dating myself. That’s okay. You already know I’ve been in business for 23 years so I’m definitely not a young pup.

This bit of sage advice from my colleague, Barb Safani, came through my Linkedin newsfeed this morning.

“If recruiters ask you to ‘walk them through your background,’ focus on your core messages of value, not the five positions you held pre-1985.”

This wise counsel is true not only when you are talking with recruiters, but is also critically important when crafting your resume, Linkedin profile, cover letters, leadership brief, and every other written marketing document you use. Not doing your homework, which in this case is not doing the hard work to clearly understand your value so you can articulate your value messaging, won’t result in a 0 grade for homework not done. Rather, it may cause you to miss out on a very lucrative opportunity; maybe even your dream opportunity.

Here area 4 tips for honing your value messaging in the competitive world of CFO job search:

– 10 to 12 are the magic numbers

While a recruiter and/or a company is interested in how you got where you are, what the hiring company most cares about is your ability to solve the kinds of problems they are currently experiencing.

In the fast-changing world of technology, that means your tangible impacts over the last 10-12 years matter much more than what happened in the early years of your career or your degree. Those foundational things matter, but they will not help a company with a problem understand how you can resolve their issue, challenge, or situation.

Which brings me to …

– It is not what, it is how

What you did only matters in the context of how you delivered value as a finance leader who knows how to step in, eliminate or mitigate issues, and make a company stronger and better. That is your track record; that is your core value; and that is what matters to a prospective company.

– Self-identify by value rather than job title or worse, lack thereof

Besides screaming desperation, which shifts the balance of power, identifying by your job title is absent any value to a potential employer. Find your value and then, use it as a neon sign at every opportunity.

– The more you blend in, the less you will be noticed

When I made the decision to work exclusively with CFOs, it was based on two things:

– With whom did I most enjoy working, and
– Where was a gap in the saturated resume writing/job coach market?

The answer was the same for both questions. I loved working with accomplished finance executives and there were no resume writers or job coaches working exclusively with CFOs.

That is true for you as a job search candidate whether you are currently in a search or anticipate a move within the next few years. Identifying how you are different from all your competitors will help to ensure that you stand out from them rather than get lost in the masses.

Your core value and strongest positioning are the most visible when you have identified what you love doing, quantified your track record of success doing those things, clarified your target market, and taken ownership of that space.

If I can help you hone your value messaging, give me a call!

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

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5 Tips for a Compelling Linkedin Profile

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Following my article on the CFOO, a CFO asked me this question …

<<… when you say “using LinkedIn as a placeholder for your online presence is a bad idea” what do you mean?>>

What I meant by a placeholder is a bare bones Linkedin profile – a name, maybe a picture, the current employer, and maybe education. A visual might be a person walking into a networking event wearing a brown paper bag on his head. It doesn’t invite perusal or conversation – there is simply nothing there to see.

Here are my 5 tips for ensuring that your Linkedin profile is more than a placeholder and sending a message you didn’t intend to send.

1. Make your headline a headline

Most people resort to dropping their most recent job title into the spot underneath their name. Using a job title is a clear missed opportunity to immediately convey value. A value statement also transcends any potential future job loss.

2. Expand your summary section

This is another place to convey value AND tell a story that will intrigue a reader to continue reading the balance of your profile. With 2,000 characters available, it is also a chance to capture critical key words that a recruiter or company will use when searching for a CFO candidate.

3. Keep your experience section fresh

By fresh, I don’t mean just updated – although that is a key point. However, cutting and pasting your resume into this section is not fresh. It is redundant. If you repeat your resume here, there is no need for a prospect to ask for your resume. Rather, think of your marketing documents as bricks that, when stacked on top of each other, form a solid wall of credibility.

4. Be judicious in choosing your connections

We never know who might be a great networking connection, but there are two important reasons to be selective in growing your online network.

First, recruiters do look at your connections and right, wrong, or indifferent – it is a part of their first impression.

Second, do you want to build a rolodex or grow your network? One is not necessarily helpful; the other is a necessity.

5. Get recommendations

Third party testimonials add credibility to your own value statements about your ability, and they matter – to recruiters and to the Linkedin algorithm. A profile doesn’t need a lot of “atta boy” recommendations; rather, it does need a few that validate your problem-solving abilities while helping to ensure a complete profile.

Social media is a critical piece of today’s job search process. Without a strong, value-oriented presence, recruiters might be missing out on the perfect Chief Financial Officer – you – to fill their job requisition! Don’t be a wallflower. Instead, be the candidate who stands out from the competition!

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

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The Chief Financial Operations Officer

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Today’s CFO is really a CFOO … a Chief Financial Operations Officer. And it has been that way for at least the past 5 years. There is no going back. The CFO is now the CFOO and in some cases, the CEO … Chief Everything Officer.

I almost didn’t read this article because of the title. Despite the title and my disagreement with his last statement, the article makes some valid points. Like …

<<In fact, today’s CFO is more like a COO in disguise.>>

Maybe it would be a tad more accurate to say that today’s CFO position demands a deep knowledge of operations and how numbers interact with operations to drive profitability. I don’t believe there is anything concealed about that fact.

<<… there’s so much overlap with what a COO does that
it seems to me like having both is redundant.>>

I agree. However, it also seems to me that a strategic CFO is in a much better position to do that than a COO, even with a strong controller in place.

My focus, though, is how the CFO evolution impacts a finance leader’s market positioning. Pure number crunchers are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. Articulating value as a finance executive with a track record of both visioning and executing initiatives that positively impact operations is imperative within a competitive market. That imperative is even more so when there are a limited number of positions available at the top.

Believing that “if you just got the chance to talk with a prospective company, you could close the deal” is understandable. My clients are always very accomplished. However, without strong marketable value positioning that gets you noticed, those chances may be significantly diminished.

– Does your resume contain more than duties and responsibilities? It must demonstrate your ability to take your financial and operational expertise and execute corporate initiatives.

– Does your digital footprint convey your compelling value messaging? Being a wallflower or using your Linkedin profile as a placeholder can significantly reduce your ability to get noticed by a company who needs what you do and would be willing to pay, and pay well, to get it.

– Does your network know and understand how you solve problems over and above the responsibilities you held and duties you performed? It is always about how you have stepped into a problematic situation, resolved the issue, and delivered a tangible impact as proof that you can solve the kinds of problems a prospective company is having.

Without solid operational finance messaging, perhaps there could be some truth to the author’s statement that the CFO may become a relic of the past.

If you are a CFOO who wants some help identifying your compelling value messaging – whether that is in your resume, your digital footprint, and/or among your network – give me a call!

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

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Your Home on the Web

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For many people, and particularly for most CFOs, the home of their digital footprint is Linkedin. Short of having your own URL, Linkedin is the only real neon sign option. That means having a robust profile is a critically important piece of managing your career … because it is where you can be found and where you are in control of the message.

Two posts came through my feed this last week regarding Linkedin, generating very interesting comments. The first was about headlines. The second around whether Linkedin replaces a resume. Let’s start with the headline.

The first question was asked as a yes/no poll … do you like headlines that are not standard fare? (i.e., your job title). I don’t have a good handle on the exact statistics, but there were strong opinions on both sides of the fence. Here’s my two cents.

Standard fare is a commodity, generic, and lacks value.

First, it is called a “headline” for a reason. If you believe your current job title is compelling enough to promote interest, do a search on Linkedin to see how many CFOs also use that headline. It’s tough to stand out with “just” a job title as your hook.

Second, companies hire because they need a Finance Leader to solve a problem, get them unstuck, or move them to the next level. The moment you define yourself by your job title, rather than your ability to solve problems and deliver impacts, and you lose your job … is the moment you become much less competitive and lose your power positioning. While nothing has changed for you except your location (outside vs. inside), companies and recruiters view that change quite differently.

Whether you choose to use a branded value-oriented headline or your job title, here are some things your headline should absolutely not say …

– Looking for a job or next opportunity

– Currently looking

– Anything that is not relevant to your branded positioning

The second issue was quite interesting, and there were certainly vocal opinions about whether the candidate needs both a resume and a Linkedin profile … and even whether a candidate would stoop so low as to create a resume if they already had a Linkedin profile. Goodness. While one day, perhaps, sometime in the future, a platform such as Linkedin may well replace resumes … that time is not now.

A Resume and a Robust Profile are Both Necessities

A Chief Financial Officer who wants to be competitive in the marketplace needs both a value-oriented resume that showcases his problem-solving skills AND a robust Linkedin profile that does not replicate his resume.

Your profile will get you noticed. Your branded value-oriented resume will solidify your credibility. They are two different, but necessary, pieces of the same job search puzzle.

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

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Are you Linked In?

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Tony LoPinto of Korn Ferry believes “smart professionals are well-advised to get on the [Linked In] bandwagon.” I totally agree, of course.

Linked In isn’t about job search, it’s about networking. And networking is a key piece of savvy career management to ensure you don’t end up unemployed and in a protracted hunt for your next position. It’s not enough to just be a placeholder on Linked In. Your profile has to be complete, interesting, differentiated, value-oriented, findable, and well-branded!

What passed for your daddy’s boring, paper, corporate-speak bio is your savvy, first-person, always up-to-date profile on Linked In. It is accessible to those who are interested in you, your company, and its executive management team … whether or not they personally requested information or even knew about you before they found you on Linked In.

Here’s the bottom line.

Linked In is also the place recruiters go to connect with and seek out top-notch, passive Senior Finance Executive and CFO candidates. If you aren’t there, you won’t be found.

Go on the offensive today and suggest that your entire executive team move into the 21st Century and the Web 2.0 world. That way, you’ll show up long before you even begin thinking about making your next move!

Boring paper corporate bios = dinosaur.
Linked In profiles = networked, connected, and tech savvy.

Finance Executives, Branded Visibility, and their Career

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Two weeks ago in my Online ID re-cert class, I heard this astonishing statement … talented high school kids were not getting accepted into their college of choice because of the lack of a branded online ID.

One very smart FENG member recently connected the dots …

“I heard the NPR report on college admitting committees and wondered if there was applicability to us. They are receiving historically high numbers of perfectly qualified candidates, between whom it is hard to distinguish. According to the report, they make the biggest distinctions among them based on 1) distinctive or unusual backgrounds 2) passion for subject areas, business or personal, both covered or not covered in the program, just intellectual passion in general.”

If I might answer the opening statement. Yes! This is precisely about branded visibility. If you can’t stand out from the competition, then you will be lost among them. And if you look like every other Chief Financial Officer or Finance Executive, how will the company distinguish that you are the best qualified for the position?

Branded visibility. CFOs need it. And their high schoolers need it. Branding is no longer an option. To stand out from the competition, it’s now a necessity.

And it is branded visibility. you can be totally on-brand but if no one knows about you, will it matter?

If you want to learn how to use branded visibility to advance your finance career, join us for the CFO.com webinar on April 12 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Social Media Contrarian

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I love being a contrarian. Some might see my contrarian positions as more akin to ignorant, stubborn, or even laughable … but the rebel in me to do things differently, stand out from the crowd, or trail blaze just won’t be quelled.

At times I’m quite skeptical of the career advice put out by Harvard Review. I hold a -contrarian- view about some of the advice targeted to the corporate world issued by those immersed in academia. But occasionally, they surprise me. The post by John Hagel III and John Seely Brown, “Five Tips for Smarter Social Networking” was one of those surprises!

What I love about branding is that it frees a person to be who they really are. No masks, no facade, no pretending and yes, you can even choose to be contrarian. Rather than being a “yes man” who blends in with the majority – whether that is reflective of your view or not – branding allows you to take a bold, principled stand based on your values, passions, and beliefs. And you can choose to broadcast that branded positioning via social media. Will you offend some people? Of course you will. Will you attract like-minded people and companies? Absolutely. Can that be scary? No question!

Two quick stories. No surprise to those who know me that I love politics … and I am not shy about stating my views. The result of taking a bold, vocal stand is that many of the clients I attract share my values and positions. Can I work with people who don’t share those views? Of course. But do I attract my ideal clients? Almost always!

One of my CFO clients from a few years ago came back to me, deciding to do branding work this time in anticipation of using his very strong, personal brand to secure his next opportunity. Part of his communication plan includes social media. What’s utterly delightful for him is that since embracing and living his brand, his interviews are with companies that are a perfect fit for who he is. He hasn’t accepted a new opportunity yet … he is employed and has the luxury of choosing the “right” next move, not “just” the next move. But his strong, branded digital footprint will no doubt deliver that … and relatively soon.

Resumes vs. Social Networking Sites

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It’s not a competition. And, job seekers, even “future” job seekers … including Senior Finance Executives … need both!

What I’ve heard from my clients over the past 45 days, which includes the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, is that recruiter contacts were, and presently are, up significantly – 2 to 3 per week – and ALL of those contacts were coming through their Linked In profiles. When you do get contacted, you need to follow up with a resume that contains an equally compelling value proposition.

CFO.com did a great job in its article, “Do Social Networks Trump Resumes?”. Here are my thoughts on importance of having both: an executive resume that conveys ROI and a strong solid digital footprint.

Why you still need a resume …

Resumes, particularly at the CFO level, aren’t going away, but they have changed dramatically from as little as 5 years ago. Smartphones, Twitter, and even the Internet are driving messaging today, which means communication is short, sweet, and to the point. That works well for those of us who are a high D in the DISC and prefer to get “just the facts, please”!

Not to be lost in that succinct communication is value. You didn’t get to the CFO chair by being good at responsibilities. You got there by impacting and contributing, taking away a company’s pain or resolving it’s problems, and getting the organization unstuck so it could move to the next level. That is the essence of a compelling resume and marketing message! And it must transcend your resume and flow right into your digital footprint.

Why you must have a digital footprint …

Visibility. Credibility. Positioning. You can be the greatest finance executive in the history of the world, but if no one knows about the impacts you’ve made OUTSIDE your company, does it matter? In all likelihood, not to your career!

There is no question that recruiters, good recruiters anyway, can find you even if you aren’t making it easy for them to do so. But they can also find your talented and accomplished competitors, and much quicker.

CFOs are notoriously bad networkers. Either they don’t enjoy networking or simply don’t have time to engage in networking. A mere 15 minutes a day of proactive social networking can make a huge difference in gaining visibility among your target audience.

That visibility is backed by credibility – you are who you say you are – and can lead to high-value subject matter positioning. With a strong, visible presence, you can stand out from everyone else, rather than blending in with everyone else. Think “Purple Cow.”

An up-to-date resume and a solid digital footprint are both foundational for savvy career management.

The one thing the CFO.com article didn’t cover was the benefit of proactive reputation management, which is a huge benefit of social networking. I’ll touch on that in my next blog post.